Craig Carton isn’t pretending his relationship with Mike Francesa is cordial. Even so, he says he would still be willing to sit down for lunch if the longtime WFAN icon ever wanted to talk.
During Wednesday’s episode of The Craig Carton Show on SportsGrid, Carton offered a blunt assessment of where things stand between the two prominent New York sports radio figures while again acknowledging that a conversation remains possible.
“We don’t like each other and very quite publicly. He doesn’t like me. I don’t like him,” Carton said while discussing the topic. “But I’ve told people a million times, if he ever wanted to get lunch, I’d have lunch with him.”
The comments come one day after Carton reiterated on WFAN that he has long been open to meeting with Mike Francesa, one of the most influential personalities in the station’s history. Carton explained Tuesday that station leadership had previously explored the possibility of bringing the two together, though a meeting has never materialized.
While discussing the idea again Wednesday, Carton also revisited the one occasion the two men actually shared a meal together, recalling an encounter that left a lasting impression.
According to Carton, the lunch took place years ago shortly before he began hosting mornings at WFAN, with the meeting arranged by the station’s longtime program director.
“The last time and the only time he and I had a meal together, it was myself, Mike Francesa and Mark Chernoff,” Carton said. “On a summer day, rainy day, we had lunch at a Greek diner in Astoria, Queens called the Cup Diner.”
Carton said the interaction during that meeting quickly shaped his opinion of Francesa.
“Mike Francesa came into that diner wearing sunglasses indoors,” Carton recalled. “He sat there for the entire lunch and never took the sunglasses off. He was very disrespectful during that lunch, and I’ve not liked him since.”
Despite the lingering tension stemming from that encounter and other public jabs over the years, Carton reiterated that he would still entertain the idea of sitting down with the former afternoon drive host.
However, he joked that the invitation might come with at least one condition.
“If he’s buying lunch, I’m in, man,” Carton said. “If you want to bury a hatchet, buy me lunch. I will figure things out, but it may not go the way you want it to go.”
Francesa stepped away from full-time duties at WFAN years ago after a Hall of Fame career that included decades in afternoon drive and his iconic Mike and the Mad Dog partnership with Chris Russo. Carton now hosts afternoons on the station alongside Chris McMonigle, placing him in the same time slot Francesa dominated for years.
For now, Carton’s stance remains unchanged. The relationship may still be icy, but the invitation to talk — preferably over lunch — remains open.
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